Summer Sharks!

This year has according to both skippers been the best February that we have ever had. Every trip has resulted in us seeing multiple sharks in the Jouberts Dam area opposite Pearly Beach. One trip that sticks out in mind involved a 3.5m female doing a full vertical breech 20 meters off the stern for absolutely no reason!! There were no prey items in the area, our visual target (the bait) and chum line which creates the artificial scavenging scenario for the shark was moving away from the boat in an SE direction. Given the fact that we were only in 10m depth of water the shark must have been doing in excess of 45kph the launch itself vertically straight out of the water (thanks goes to Mary one of our white shark projects volunteers who has graduated in physics for this estimate). Only a privileged few saw this spectacle (ah the benefits of getting involved with chumming!), the white underbelly gleaming in the bright sunshine was an awesome sight to behold! It also acts as a stark reminder of how beautiful and powerful these animals are.
This month has also seen some unusual environmental conditions, the water has been as warm as 21 C (the average temperature this time of year is normally between 9-14 C), and on some days the visibility has been nigh on perfect enabling those on board to see to the sandy bottom of Jouberts dam. The warmer water temperatures have resulted in the sharks being more active, and more willing to expend energy chasing the bait. One shark in particular called “Mickey” due to the pattern he has on his dorsal fin seems to relish the opportunity to rush the bait from deep, and on one occasion the bait line had been thrown out for the first time on an afternoon trip and before the bait handler had time to reach down to pick up the rope Mickey had the tuna head in his mouth and didn’t intend to let go!
We have also seen on two occasions the chum line attracting another great marine predator in this area a little lower down the food chain, that predator being the cape fur sea. We had two good working sharks both females and around 3M in length that had stayed around the boat for over an hour when the seal appeared. It swam towards the boat investigating the source of the chum, anticipation grew on the boat with everyone expecting the shark to burst from the depths and predate on the seal. Instead the seal came close to the boat and then it left without incident. The two sharks then reappeared 5 minutes later, given the sharks array of senses there is no doubt that the shark knew the seal was present (and vice versa) but chose not to attempt an attack. On another occasion a seal not only popped up in the chum line and swam to the boat but decided the tuna head on the bait line looked like quite a tempting free snack. The seal proceeded to attach itself to the tuna head and began to chew it!! Once again the seal left without incident despite there being sharks in the vicinity that we had been lucky enough to see on a regular basis. Who knows what amazing sights we will be privileged to on our next trip!!